


when we're together

by nerdytardis



Category: Bill & Ted (Movies)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Dreams and Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22038250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdytardis/pseuds/nerdytardis
Summary: Ted has a nightmare and looks to Bill for some comfort.  Things quickly take a few unexpected (but not unwelcome) turns from there.
Relationships: Ted "Theodore" Logan/Bill S. Preston Esq.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 247
Collections: billen ted





	when we're together

**Author's Note:**

> this is set between excellent adventure and bogus journey, so both bill and ted are still living with their parents at this point.  
> sorry for the typos!  
> the title is from "can't fight this feeling" by reo speedwagon because i've been thinking about rock of ages a lot recently oops

Bill was awake. 

He had no idea why but he was _absolutely_ not asleep anymore.

Squinting into the dark, he waited for his brain to catch up with the rest of him. 

After a moment, a little knocking sound rang out in the silence.

Bill sat up and looked around, rubbing at his eyes and yawning. Then—

There it was again. 

This time, Bill could tell the sound was coming from the window. He got up and went over to see what was up. 

When he looked out, Bill blinked, not quite sure whether he was dreaming or not; what he was seeing made no sense.

It was the middle of the night, and Ted, still in his pajamas, was standing in his backyard. 

Ted saw him too now, and waved at him. He was holding a handful of grey stuff in his other hand and Bill realized that Ted had been throwing rocks from the garden at his window. Like a dude in a movie. 

Confused as hell, Bill hauled open his window and leaned out. “Ted?”

“Bill!” Ted whisper-called back. He walked up so that he was right underneath Bill’s window.

“What are you doing dude?”

“I—” Ted stopped, his mouth clamping closed. After a beat of thinking about it, he said, “I had a nightmare.”

Bill’s brow furrowed. “What?”

Ted looked away again, and when he looked back, he tucked some hair behind his ear nervously, “Sorry dude, I shouldn’t have—”

“Ted.” Bill cut him off, “What was it about?”

Even though he still didn’t seem quite sure about this whole thing, Ted still said, “Remember when we were in historical England, with the royal ugly dudes? And we almost died?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Ted shrugged a little, but it didn’t have the same lose flowing quality the motion usually had, “I had a dream where it didn’t end up so good for us dude.”

Bill leaned on his window frame, looking off at the sky line. “Bogus.”

“Yeah.”

Crickets chirped and a big truck drove by, as they both considered this. 

Bill, who now had a total understanding of the situation, turned back to Ted. “Hey dude?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to come in?”

Ted blinked at him before he said, “Totally dude.”

“I’ll meet you at the back door.”

Bill finally leaned back into his room and closed the window. Slipping out of his room, he tiptoed down the stairs and into the hall.

He unlocked the back door and opened it. Ted was waiting for him on the porch, looking vaguely distracted.

“Hey.” Bill said, smiling at him reassuringly.

Ted noticed him and rubbed at the back of neck, looking at his shoes. “Sorry to surprised you like this dude.”

“Don’t worry about it dude.” Bill stepped aside to let Ted in; then locked the door behind them. 

They watched each other for a moment, waiting to see who would make the first step into this uncharted territory. 

Bill finally took the leap. “Well. I’m not dead.” He said, trying to be helpful.

It made Ted smile, a bright spark of white in the darkness and Bill felt better for it. Centered.

“Yeah dude,” Ted said, “I’m glad.” His eyes defocused a little for a second, before he blinked and shook his head, just a little, “It was the most heinous of dreams.”

Bill’s gut suddenly felt all heavy, and he asked, on instinct, “Want to sleep over?”

Surprised, Ted considered for the briefest of moments before he nodded. They made their way back upstairs wordlessly, skipping the third step from the top just like they used to do when they would sneak out to late night horror movies at the mall. 

Once they got into Bill’s room, Ted slipped his shoes off and left them by Bill’s dresser. Bill climbed back into bed, leaving the side next to the wall open. Ted followed him, crawling onto his side of the bed before he flopped down on his back. 

Neither of them said anything for a moment. Another car drove by outside and the neighbor’s dog barked. 

Bill looked from the ceiling to his friend, studying Ted’s profile. He realized that Ted’s jaw was still all tense.

“Hey Ted?”

Ted rolled his head to the side and looked at him. “Yeah?”

“Can you tell me about what happened? In the dream?”

Ted blinked once, then looked back towards the ceiling.

“We were about to get our heads cut off.” As he listened, Bill rolled over, pillowing his arm under his head, so he could watch Ted better. “And then I looked over at you and you looked over at me. And you said—um, well you said something I don’t remember and then the guy—” Ted swallowed thickly, “You got beheaded dude. Just like in a movie.”

Bill shivered and pulled his knees a little closer to his chest. “Gross.”

“It was worse than gross dude.” Ted looked over at him, “I know it was a dream but—I just needed to—” Ted made a little frustrated noise as he tried to find the right words, “I wanted to see you.” He shook his head and looked away, “I know that’s dumb—”

“It’s not dumb.” Bill cut in, getting defensive. He never liked it when Ted thought of himself as dumb—it always ignited a little frustrated fire in Bill’s gut. “It makes sense dude.”

Ted looked back over at him, “It does?”

“Yeah.” Bill said, “I would have done the same thing.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Bill felt bad for lying, even if it was a little one.

He had those dreams too. Of course he did. 

The ones where Ted didn’t bump out of his suit of armor, where Bill had to helplessly watch as his best friend in the whole world bled out on the floor. 

Or sometimes it was the ones where Ted was sent away to Alaska and came back all different, a soldier with a buzz cut that wouldn’t look at him. 

When he had those dreams, he would roll over, squeeze his eyes shut, and pull the covers as tight around himself as he could. 

He would try to block the image out, to overpower it with the thought that it was just a dream, it wasn’t real, and it didn’t happen like that—even as he curled into a ball and tried to keep from shaking.

Then, the next day, when he finally saw Ted again, smiling and waving at him, he would smile back and everything would be okay again. 

It had never occurred to Bill to sneak over to Ted’s house, but now—he realized he would have done it in a heartbeat.

So maybe it wasn’t so much of a lie. The thought made Bill feel a little better, and he rolled back onto his back. 

For a long moment, the room was filled with nothing but their breathing and a distant dog bark.

Ted’s voice was quiet, barely even there. “Dude…can I…” He was either searching for his words, or really nervous about what he was planning on saying, because he bit his lip and considered for a good long time before he said, “Can I…hold you?”

Bill turned his head to stare wide-eyed at Ted, who was refusing to look at him. 

Inexplicable, buzzy warmth had filled Bill’s chest as the words left Ted’s lips, but now that they hung in the air between them, his brain reeled. 

Something in Bill knew that this shouldn’t be a big deal. His friend had nightmare and wanted a hug. That was normal. More normal, in fact, than most things in their life at this point. 

But there was something about the way that Ted asked it that made it all seem so much more complicated. “Can I hold you” spoken like _that_ didn’t feel like one question; it felt like too many of them, all wrapped up so tightly that Bill couldn’t quite make out what was at its center. 

No one moved as Bill tried to untangle it in his head; even the house seemed to hold its breath.

When Ted asked to hold him, Bill immediately knew he wanted it, like he’d already been waiting ages for Ted to ask. But would that mean that they were—did all this mean something else? 

Bill squinted absently at a poster of Bon Jovi he had tacked to the ceiling and realized he was thinking way too much.

Without saying anything he started scooting himself closer, and Ted finally looked back at him, his eyes a little wild with surprise. 

Only hesitating once he was practically flush against Ted’s side, Bill finally spoke. 

“Is this—cool dude?” Bill asked, his hand sort of hovering over Ted’s chest, “Or do you want to do it different?”

Ted nodded, still looking more shocked than anything. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Okay.” Bill rested his head on Ted’s shoulder, then curled his arms in and shuffled even closer so he was resting more on Ted’s chest.

Ted’s arms hesitantly came up around him. When Bill didn’t protest, they pulled tighter, holding him close.

As Ted breathed, Bill’s head moved up and down with his chest. It reminded him of falling asleep at the beach, with the sounds of the ocean in the background. 

Ted’s shirt was really soft against his cheek too; all cool and comfortable. After a few more breaths, Bill adjusted himself a little just so he could rub his cheek against it. As he moved, one of his legs ended up resting on top of Ted’s and he took in a sharp breath, about to apologize.

But Ted didn’t say anything. Instead, he just shifted a little too, his hands settling against Bill’s back. 

Neither of them said anything. An unspoken strangeness hung between, but not in a way that made it awkward. Just heavy.

No, that was the craziest part about this—it didn’t feel weird or uncomfortable or any of things cuddling with a dude, with _Ted_ , was supposed to feel like.

It was nice. And soft. 

And, if he was being honest with himself, Bill loved it. 

Bill stared into the dark and thought about what he wanted to say for a moment. Finally, he broke the silence again:

“Hey Ted?”

“Yeah Bill?”

Bill could feel Ted’s words rumble against his cheek, and he realized he loved that too.

“We should…” he considered how he wanted to phrase this, “We should do this more. Or again. Or something.”

One of Ted’s hands moved across his back, making the skin tingle under his t-shirt. “Really?”

“Yeah dude.”

Bill could hear the smile in Ted’s voice as he said, “Okay. Cool.” 

For a moment, Bill thought Ted was going to say something else, but then it was lost to the dark.

Part of Bill already knew, right then, that something about them was changing. He didn’t know what was different, but there would be time to figure that out tomorrow. At the very least he knew that he was going to get to do this again, maybe while watching a movie, or out at the park down the street, with grass tickling his bare feet. 

The happy thought of being this close to Ted again, with the sun at his back and the breeze pulling at his hair kept playing through his head again and again, in time with the constant thumb of Ted’s heart in his ear. 

The lull of it pulled at Bill’s limbs until he slipped out of consciousness, his breathing evening out to match Ted’s. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> ps: i realized as i edited this that it makes for a really nice companion to my old b&t fic "meant to be." so if you like to read about bill and ted falling asleep while cuddling, i'd suggest hitting that one up next lmao. idk why i always seem to write about people falling asleep but here we are


End file.
